Singapore Government-NGO relations on environmental issues: how has this changed?

The approach is "sometimes consultative, but strategically contained and certainly not fully participatory..."

K. L. Koh. of the Faculty of Law, the National University of Singapore does a review of Governance, politics and the environment: A Singapore study by Maria Francesch-Huidobro of the University of Hong Kong.

Intrigued by the interplay of the Singapore government and NGOs, and civil society within the environmental sector during the period of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's term of office -- which she observed was more consultative than that of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's, she chose three case studies as her analysis of what she termed "disciplined governance" in relations between the state and NGOs/civil society in Singapore. This term describes an approach that is "sometimes consultative, but strategically contained and certainly not fully participatory...".

The three case studies were

• The Sungei Buloh natural wetland site, an example of the "Power of Persuasion"
• The Pierce Reservoir case, an example of the "Power of Protestation"
• The Indonesian fires which caused haze, an example of the "Power of Circumvention"

The reviewer takes as a sign of a more "bottom-up approach at the initial stage of formulation", the exercise to gather feedback for the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Sustainable Development.

More about Sustainable Singapore

Download the full reveiw Book review: Governance, politics and the environment: A Singapore study. K. L. Koh. Pp. 171-173. [PDF, 83.4 KB] on the Nature in Singapore website